Wand

A wand is a thin, light-weight rod that is held with one hand, and is traditionally made of wood, but may also be made of other materials, such as metal or plastic. A wand that is used for magical purposes is often called a magic wand, rather than simply a wand. Wands are distinct from scepters, which have a greater thickness, are held differently, and have a relatively large top ornament on them.

In modern times, wands are usually associated with stage magic or alleged real magic, but there have been other uses, all stemming from the original meaning as a synonym of rod and virge. A stick that is used for reaching, pointing, drawing in the dirt, and directing other people, is one of the earliest and simplest of tools.

Status symbolism

In British formal government ceremony, special officials may carry a wand of office that represents their power. Compare in this context the function of the ceremonial mace, the scepter, and the staff of office. Its age may be even greater, as Stone Age cave paintings show figures holding sticks, which may be symbolic representations of their power.^[1]

Metrology

The wand is also a pre-Norman unit of length used in the British Isles equal to approximately the modern meter, apparently dating from an early use as a yardstick (originally as a generic term). The 'wand' survived for a time under the Normans. Then when the yard was established, the wand came to be known as the 'yard and the hand', and then disappeared, either slowly or by being banned by law.

The old English unit of 1007 mm was called a 'wand', and although the 'yard' was created to replace the wand, the wand was still used for some centuries because of its convenience as part of an old English decimal system that included:

• 1 digit (base of long finger) about 20 mm
• 10 digits = 1 small span (span of thumb and forefinger) 200 mm
• 10 small spans = 1 armstretch (1 fathom from finger tip to finger tip) about 2 m
• 10 fathoms = 1 chain about 20 m
• 10 chains = 1 furlong about 200 m
• 10 furlongs = 1 thus-hund of about 2 km

The wand that has survived today as part of folklore may in fact be a rendition of the ancient British length unit. Thus a true wand would be 1 m in length and not 30 cm.

Mystical, occult, and religious usage

Wands were introduced into the occult via the 1200s latin grimoire The Oathbound Book of Honorius. The wand idea from the Book of Honorius, along with various other ideas from that grimoire, were later incorporated into the 1500s grimoire The Key of Solomon. The Key of Solomon became popular among occultists for hundreds of years. In 1888, there was the publication of an english translation of the Key of Solomon by Samuel Mathers (one of the co-founders of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn), which made the text of the Key of Solomon available to the anglophone world. That 1888 english version inspired Gerald Gardner- the creator of Wicca, to incorporate the wand and various other ritual objects into Wicca.

The creators of the Golden Dawn got their idea to use a wand, as well as their other main ritual objects (dagger, sword, hexagrammic pentacle, and cup), from the writings of the mid-1800s occultist author Eliphas Levi. Levi himself mentioned most of those objects (all except for the cup) in his writings because they are in the Key of Solomon, whereas he got the cup from the tarot suit of cups. In Levi's 1862 book Philosophie Occulte, he wrote a fake excerpt of a hebrew version of the Key of Solomon, and that fake excerpt was part of the inspiration for the Golden Dawn's ritual objects, and especially their lotus wand.

Ceremonial uses may have several wands for different purposes, such as the Fire Wand and the Lotus Wand in the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. In Wicca and Ceremonial magic, practitioners use several magical tools, including wands, for the channeling of energy. They serve a similar purpose to the athame, although the two objects have their distinct uses. While an athame is generally used to command, a wand is seen as more gentle, and is used to invite or encourage. Though traditionally made of wood, they can also consist of metal or crystal. Practitioners usually prune a branch from an oak, hazel, or other tree, or may even buy wood from a hardware store, and then carve it and add decorations to personalize it; one can also purchase ready-made wands. In Wicca, the wand usually represents the element air,^[2][3] or sometimes fire, although contemporary wand-makers also create wands for the elements of earth and water. Wands are most often used by Neopagans, Wiccans, Shamans, and other people, in rituals, healing, and spell-casting.

Magic wands may have originated as the drumming stick of a shaman, especially in Central Asia and Siberia, as when using it to beat his drum or to point, to perform religious ceremonies, for healing, and in magical ceremonies.

In fiction

Circe with her magical wand, painting by John William Waterhouse

The earliest magical rod in European literary canon appears in the Odyssey: the rhabdos (ῥάβδος, meaning 'rod') of Circe, who uses it to transform Odysseus's men into pigs. Italian fairy tales put them into the hands of the powerful fairies by the late Middle Ages.^[4]

In the 1700s ballads Allison Gross and The Laily Worm and the Machrel of the Sea, the villainesses use silver wands to transform their victims into animals, in emulation of the Odyssey that preceded them.^[5] In C. S. Lewis's 1950 novel The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, the White Witch's most feared weapon is her wand, whose magic is capable of turning people into stone. This, again, employs the Odysseyan motif of an evil female witch who uses a magic wand to maliciously transform her victims.

In the mid 1900s, the MGM and Disney media companies popularized magic wands via four movies, in which wands were wielded by benevolent female fairy characters. Those movies were The Wizard of Oz (1939; MGM; a wand-staff was wielded by a fairy-witch), Pinocchio (1940; Disney; a wand was wielded by "the blue fairy"), Cinderella (1950; Disney; a wand was wielded by a "fairy godmother"), and Sleeping Beauty (1959; Disney; a wand was wielded by each of three fairies). In The Wizard of Oz and Pinocchio, the fairies' wands are embellished with a star-shaped ornament on the end, whereas in Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty, the fairies have wands with traditional plain tips.

Magic wands commonly feature in works of fantasy fiction as spell-casting tools. Few other common denominators exist, so the capabilities of wands vary wildly. In Joanne K. Rowling's Harry Potter series, the first book of which was published in 1997, personal wands are common, as necessary tools to channel out each character's magic, and they are used as weapons in magical duels, and it is the wand that chooses its owner. A wand is also present in the Children of the Red King series in the possession of Charlie Bone as well as the popular MMORPG World of Warcraft where caster classes such as the mage and warlock use wands offensively.

Other uses

• In music, the term sometimes applies to the modern model of conductor's baton (the earlier staff and baton cantoral being heavier and thus unfit for precise gestures).
• In literary language, "wand" can be a synonym for rod as an implement for corporal punishment, in the generic sense: either a multiple rod or a single branch (switch or cane), but not a specific physical type.
• Based on their magical symbolism, stage magicians often use "magic wands" as part of their misdirection.^[6] These wands are traditionally short and black, with white tips. If deprived of his magic wand, the magician may be deemed powerless. A magic wand may be transformed into other items, grow, vanish, move, display a will of its own, or behave magically in its own right.
• A lacrosse stick is colloquially referred to as a "wand."
• "To wand" is a colloquial verb that means to check something with a handheld metal detector, such as at the airport and high security buildings.^[7]
• Wooden wands of about 60" in length were popular exercise implements during the Victorian era, particularly in the U.S. and in Canada, being used to perform various flexibility and strengthening routines.
• "Wand" is also a common reference to an automotive handbrake/parking brake; in motorsport rally, drivers would refer to their hydraulic handbrakes as "the wand".
• In hair and beauty, the curling wand is defined as a metal appliance with a rod shape, used to curl hair when heated to give it curls or waves.

See also

• Ceremonial magic
• Rhabdomancy
• White Wand

References

External links

• Media related to Magic wands at Wikimedia Commons